How we discover and listen to metal music

How do you guys feel about the large quantity of albums released these days vs the amount of time realistically available to not only discover but actually listening to music?

Even to this day I am still catching up to more obscure bands from the 80s. I try to buy albums from every era rather than focusing on just today's albums.

This is why I say that for me buying 50 newly released albums during the year is about the amount of time and attention I can dedicate to new albums. Of course I can always revisit a past year later on and collect more albums from that particular year but I am talking about while the year is current.

kmorg wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

So yeah...thank goodness for the Internet...Discovering music is now a breeze I'm not gonna lie, I download (or steal) FLAC/320kbps rips out there with cover/inlay arts from a Russian site....because it's too impossible for me to acquire those physical copies from where I live

Acquiring physical copies from where you live is just as easy as stealing them. Both can be done online!

Exactly! Downloading music that you didn't buy is the same thing as walking into a store and walking out with CD's you didn't pay for

thejokeriv wrote:

kmorg wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

So yeah...thank goodness for the Internet...Discovering music is now a breeze I'm not gonna lie, I download (or steal) FLAC/320kbps rips out there with cover/inlay arts from a Russian site....because it's too impossible for me to acquire those physical copies from where I live

Acquiring physical copies from where you live is just as easy as stealing them. Both can be done online!

Exactly! Downloading music that you didn't buy is the same thing as walking into a store and walking out with CD's you didn't pay for

Tell that to the authorities

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

How do you guys feel about the large quantity of albums released these days vs the amount of time realistically available to not only discover but actually listening to music?

Doesn't really bother me because I'm insanely picky about what I like. I can listen to songs from 20 different bands in the same general subgenre and maybe 1 will click with me. In the grand scheme of things I buy much less now than I did 20 years ago and still feel satisfied.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

How do you guys feel about the large quantity of albums released these days vs the amount of time realistically available to not only discover but actually listening to music?

Even to this day I am still catching up to more obscure bands from the 80s. I try to buy albums from every era rather than focusing on just today's albums.

This is why I say that for me buying 50 newly released albums during the year is about the amount of time and attention I can dedicate to new albums. Of course I can always revisit a past year later on and collect more albums from that particular year but I am talking about while the year is current.

It doesn't bother me any more than hanging with Rick James at the China Club in 1983 would bother a cokehead.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

How do you guys feel about the large quantity of albums released these days vs the amount of time realistically available to not only discover but actually listening to music?

Even to this day I am still catching up to more obscure bands from the 80s. I try to buy albums from every era rather than focusing on just today's albums.

This is why I say that for me buying 50 newly released albums during the year is about the amount of time and attention I can dedicate to new albums. Of course I can always revisit a past year later on and collect more albums from that particular year but I am talking about while the year is current.

It doesn't bother me any more than hanging with Rick James at the China Club in 1983 would bother a cokehead.

Maybe I am just developing a degree of OCD about this lol something about owning 50 albums for every year starting with 1980 lol

To expand further on ADR's original question....the little sticker on the corner of the album that gave popular musical magazines (of the era) rating , sounds like (this band) or for fans of (that band). Did it make ya wanna buy the album ?

James B. wrote:

To expand further on ADR's original question....the little sticker on the corner of the album that gave popular musical magazines (of the era) rating , sounds like (this band) or for fans of (that band). Did it make ya wanna buy the album ?

Actually yes - in fact I experienced this as recently as 2004 (?) when at the time Nile's Annihilation of the Wicked was released. The sticker said something like "recommended for fans of Morbid Angel, Atheist and Death". I knew Nile at the time but I hadn't listened to them in a very long time. Around that time I was getting more into older Morbid Angel and Atheist and I thought "what if...". So I picked up that Nile album without having heard a single note of it ... took it home, placed it in my CD player and I was totally blown away! It was so damn catchy and basically just as the sticker had described.

James B. wrote:

To expand further on ADR's original question....the little sticker on the corner of the album that gave popular musical magazines (of the era) rating , sounds like (this band) or for fans of (that band). Did it make ya wanna buy the album ?

Yes, especially in the mid eighties, I pretty much bought all of my music based on comments like that, well that and Metal Forces magazine. Later on, the tape trading scene meant that I rarely bought a record before hearing the band.

I do miss those days and that way of discovering music, but tbh, life is a lot busier these days and i wouldn't have time to go to that much effort just to hear a band.

To put a slight spin on the nostalgic feeling of discovering music in the 80s ...

There are now distros like Shadow Kingdom and Rockadrome that in some way attempt to fill the void of that feeling people had when discovering bands in the 80s. It's not the same but what these sites do is cater for the older more obscure bands that didn't get much press in the 80s or ever since. For me whenever I visit those sites I feel like I'm back in a music store, and you never know what you're going to find - whether you are impressed by an album cover or are looking for something specific - I always know I will walk away with something in the cart from those sites.

Rise Above Records have captured some of the excitement that I had for MFN, Roadrunner, Steamhammer and Noise Records back in the 80's, their output has been so consistent that I always give their new bands a listen.

I haven't done that in years!